Connect with us

News

‘I Can Speak From Personal Experience’: Just Two Weeks Ago Pence Called for Special Counsel for Biden Classified Docs

Published

on

It was just two weeks ago that former Vice President Mike Pence was demanding a special counsel be appointed to look into President Joe Biden‘s handling of classified documents, after a small number had been found in an office at the Penn-Biden Center. Now some are calling for DOJ to appoint a special counsel to investigate the former Trump vice president’s handling of classified documents, after CNN reported Tuesday on the dozen or so classified documents that were found in Pence’s Indiana home and turned over to the FBI and the National Archives.

Pence, who is expected to launch a 2024 presidential run, had taken to the right-wing media talk circuit, demanding “equal treatment” by the U.S. Dept. of Justice for President Biden, after Attorney General Merrick Garland had appointed a special counsel in November to investigate ex-president Donald Trump’s possibly criminal handling of classified documents.

Attorney General Garland ultimately, and exceptionally quickly, did appoint a special counsel to look into Biden’s classified documents handling, leading Pence to say he had been “deeply troubled” before that happened.

READ MORE: Watch: Top Trump Ally Lindsey Graham Defends Biden In Classified Docs Probe

“Look, there’s equal treatment in the law [that] is at the very center of the expectation of the American people,” Pence, calling for a special counsel to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents, had told right wing personality Hugh Hewitt exactly two weeks ago, on January 10.

He also blasted the Biden administration for the DOJ executing a search warrant on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, last summer. And he criticized the media for what he wrongly called “turning a deaf ear” to the Biden classified documents issue, which is false.

“Well, as I said last summer when the home of a former president of the United States, you know, was raided by FBI agents, I was deeply troubled by that action at the time. And this double standard is just as troubling. You know, there’s that old saying that if they didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all,” Pence told Hewitt, despite there being no double standard.

“And Hugh, this is, whether it be the administration or whether it be the media papering over this, look, it was a massive overreach by the FBI, a massive overreaction this summer to execute a search warrant at the personal residence of a former president of the United States, and I said so. But having now created that standard and now abandoned that standard when the current president of the United States is found to have had classified documents in his possession after leaving office, I think it just, I have no words right now. It’s just incredibly frustrating to me.”

READ MORE: ‘Marxists, Communists, Racists, and RINOS’: Trump Melts Down Hours Before Judge Will Rule on Releasing Grand Jury Report

He also continued to berate the Biden administration and the media.

“You know, the reality is that now they’ve, you know, what they have unleashed now has the threat of coming back on them,” he said of the Biden administration, for allowing DOJ to execute the Mar-a-Lago search warrant. “But the willingness of the national media to just turn away and turn a deaf ear to the Biden, to the disclosures that when Vice President Biden left office, he left with classified documents as well, it just shows you, it’s like I said before. If they didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all.”

Pence has repeatedly denied having any classified documents, which we now know was false.

Pence wasn’t done attacking President Biden.

Two days later, on Jan. 12,  he went on Fox News Business, using nearly the same language, telling former Trump White House official Larry Kudlow that “equal treatment under the law is at the very center of American jurisprudence,” and applauding the decision to appoint a special counsel to look into the Biden classified documents.

“And earlier this week, I called for that. I welcome the decision by Attorney General Garland, who will appoint a special counsel. If we have a special counsel reviewing classified materials that were found at Mar-a-Lago, we need to have a special counsel in this case, and that’s progress.”

Pence said he could “speak from personal experience” about the importance of properly handling classified documents.

“The handling of classified materials, and the nation’s secrets is very serious matter. And as a former Vice President of the United States I can speak from personal experience but the attention that ought to be paid to those materials when you’re in office, and after you leave office. And clearly, that did not take place in this case.”

The difference between the Biden classified documents issue and the Trump classified documents case is huge.

President Biden reported all classified documents found to DOJ and the National Archives and had then sent to NARA immediately.

Trump reportedly had classified documents and thousands of other items belonging to the federal government shipped from the White House to his residence and resort in Florida, Mar-a-Lago, and according to several former officials, helped pack some of the boxes himself.

READ MORE: DeSantis: One of the Reasons I Banned Black History Course Is It Includes ‘Indoctrination’ on ‘Queer Theory’ (Video)

He then spent over a year lying about what he had at Mar-a-Lago, and repeatedly refused to return the stolen items.

Some experts say a special counsel should be appointed for Pence’s handling of classified documents.

Law professor, MSNBC legal contributor, and former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance says, “No reason to treat Pence differently” from President Biden.

National security attorney Mark S. Zaid says Pence should allow the FBI “to voluntarily search his offices & residence for additional classified docs.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Sexy’: Comer Obtains Unredacted Emails to VP Biden Revealing Women ‘Privately Mused’ They Found Him Attractive

Published

on

Amid the chaos of what top Democrats are calling the GOP House’s “civil war,” infighting that threatens to shut down the federal government in nine days, Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Comer has been obtaining some of then-Vice President Joe Biden‘s emails from the National Archives.

Politico reveals Chairman Comer has been able to obtain several unreacted emails, including one which relayed a tidbit of hearsay, or, “private musings,” from 2009, after an overseas trip Biden took: “multiple” women said they found the Vice President “sexy.”

The emails “include schedules with ordinary family get-togethers,” Politico adds. “One shows Biden had lunch with Hunter Biden’s then-15-year-old daughters, Maisy and Finnegan. Another reveals that the Ukrainians were praising his now-deceased brother, Beau. And then there are the private musings of multiple Georgian women saying they found Joe Biden ‘sexy’ during a 2009 trip that also included a stop in Ukraine.”

“’Must-read email below,’ read an email forwarded by Biden’s then-national security adviser Tony Blinken to Joe Biden and his sons, Hunter and Beau. The email’s subject line: ‘Biden as new Georgian sex symbol.'”

READ MORE: ‘Total Breakdown’: House Sends Members Home – Experts Warn ‘Republicans Can’t Govern’ And Have No ‘Working Majority’

Other emails from the National Archives’ trove include a “June 14, 2016 schedule card shows Biden was to meet with the prime minister of Ukraine. The newly unredacted portions show he was also scheduled to work out with his personal trainer, and to dine with Hunter’s then-15-year-old daughters, Maisy and Finnegan, in the vice president’s office.”

Politico, noting that “Republicans have yet to turn up direct evidence that Joe Biden benefited personally or that he took any official action as a result of those [Hunter Biden’s] connections, also reveals a “May, 27, 2016 schedule card includes a call with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Hunter Biden was copied on the day’s schedule. It’s already been reported that Biden was also due to attend the one-year anniversary of the passing of his son, Beau, back home in Delaware.”

“Comer had been pointing to this scheduling item, since it was also emailed to then-Vice President Biden under a pseudonym email address. Comer even said the vice president was sending a secret message to his son that he was about to fire the prosecutor. As recently as last week, Comer included that email on a list of ‘evidence’ of Joe Biden’s ‘involvement in his family’s influence peddling schemes.'”

Politico also notes that Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy “and his allies insisted that opening a formal impeachment inquiry would empower them to dig deeper. Yet the emails are another example of the House GOP failing to turn up evidence they’ve assured the public exists and that will implicate Biden in some form of corruption that rises to an impeachable offense.”

READ MORE: Pete Buttigieg Just Testified Before Congress. It Did Not Go Well for Republicans.

Image via Shutterstock

Continue Reading

News

‘Just Want to Burn the Whole Place Down’: McCarthy Rails Against House Republicans as GOP Conference Explodes in Chaos

Published

on

Speaker Kevin McCarthy unleashed his anger against his own House Republican conference Thursday as chaos erupted after yet another procedural vote on a defense spending bill failed and the clock ticks closer to a GOP-caused shutdown of the federal government.

McCarthy “failed a crucial test Thursday of his ability to unite his fractured Republican caucus as he tries to rally support to pass a spending bill aimed at avoiding a government shutdown at the end of the month,” CNBC adds.

“It’s frustrating in the sense that I don’t understand why anybody votes against bringing the idea and having the debate, and then you got all the amendments and if you don’t like the bill,” McCarthy admitted to reporters in what has increasingly become opportunities for him to trash the most far-right Republicans in the House.

“This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down,” he lamented. “It doesn’t work.”

“This is really unheard of,” CNBC’s Emily Wilkins reported. “I mean just a rule going down as a procedural thing, that’s pretty rare as is, and for it to happen twice in one week. Last night Republicans came ut of their all hands on deck Republican meeting. A number of them sounded optimistic about moving forward.”

READ MORE: Pete Buttigieg Just Testified Before Congress. It Did Not Go Well for Republicans.

Thursday failed procedural vote “really did catch Speaker McCarthy by surprise,” Wilkins added.

“He said he did not realize there were not going to be the votes to move forward on this.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

 

Continue Reading

News

Pete Buttigieg Just Testified Before Congress. It Did Not Go Well for Republicans.

Published

on

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday, where he was forced to educate Republicans on a wide variety of topics, from climate change to not needing passports to fly domestically, to subsidies for oil and gas companies.

In one heated back-and-forth, U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), who has been fighting a subpoena from Special Counsel Jack Smith, blamed Secretary Buttigieg specifically for “killing” the auto industry by supporting electric vehicles.

“I don’t know if you can justify or how you justify forcing my constituents to pay for EVs [electric vehicles] and EV infrastructure for coastal elites and wealthy people, but somehow you do,” Rep. Perry told Secretary Buttigieg.

“Well, I need to point out that wealthy people were specifically excluded from the Inflation Reduction Act,” Buttigieg replied.

READ MORE: ‘Good Riddance’: Experts Blame Rupert Murdoch for ‘Intellectual and Moral Decay’ of America, Issue Warning on Future

“Well,” Perry replied. “Do you dispute that two-thirds of EV owners, are owned by people over 100,000, that make over 100,000?”

Buttigieg explained that the first electric vehicles were expensive, but “that number is going down.” Perry yelled it “doesn’t matter” that the prices of the electric vehicles are going down, his constituents “can’t afford them today,” which led Buttigieg to ask why he is opposed to “cutting their costs?”

“I’m not against cutting the cost. The market should do it,” Perry replied. “But you want the government, you want my taxpayers to pay to cut the cost.”

Buttigieg then asked about subsidies for the oil and gas companies, which cost the American taxpayer billions of dollars annually.

“If you are of the view that there should be no subsidy to propulsion vehicles, then are you against oil and gas subsidies?” Buttigieg asked.

During another back-and forth, Buttigieg quelled a Republican Congressman asking him questions as he educated him on electric vehicles and why they are important.

READ MORE: ‘Grabbing the Hog During a Live Musical’: Fetterman Mocks Fox News and Boebert Over Dress Code Outrage

“Nobody wants these electric vehicles unless you’re an elite that can afford them – people in may district sure as hell don’t want them.”

“We’re doing this for three reasons, even though the EV revolution’s going to happen anyway,” Buttigieg told U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA).

“Oh, it’s a ‘revolution’ –” the Congressman interjected, before Buttigieg cut him off.

“I would love to answer your question, Congressman.”

Moments later, when Buttigieg said “climate change is real,” LaMalfa shot back, “This one’s called Autumn.”

Buttigieg made him repeat it before explaining, “yeah, that’s the seasons changing which respectfully is not the same as the climate changing.”

And when U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) appeared to be unprepared with facts and figures, Buttigieg was happy to provide them for him, upending his inquiry into the Transportation Secretary’s “private” flights.

“I knew this might come up, so I brought some numbers,” Secretary Buttigieg told Rep. Burlison. “Since getting the job, I have taken—these are estimates, give or take a couple—but I’ve taken 638 flights.”

“607 of them were commercial, 10 of them were on military aircraft such as Air Force One, and 21 were on FAA aircraft—representing about 3 percent of the flights.”

READ MORE: White House Mocks GOP With ‘Worst Person You Know’ Meme After Matt Gaetz Blames McCarthy for Shutdown

“I appreciate the chance to discuss this because I can’t help get the sense that some people want to make it sound as if I don’t travel most of the time on commercial aircraft, which of course is untrue,” Buttigieg added.

“Mr. Secretary,” Burlison continued, “I think I think the irony for most people in my district is that they’re being told that they’re going to have to convert to electric vehicles to reduce their carbon footprint. And yet, not everyone gets to travel the way that you do.”

“Just once again,” Buttigieg replied, reinforcing what he had said, “the way I usually travel is an economy class aboard an airliner like everybody else, when we do it differently, it’s often because it will save taxpayer money.”

“I’m so glad you asked this,” Buttigieg concluded, saying he was “excited to share” this information.

Watch the videos above or at this link.

 

 

 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.